In this game, you take on the role of Shadow, a samurai intent on rescuing a princess that was kidnapped by ninjas. Throughout the game, you can make yourself more powerful by attacking the white owls that fly by and collecting the items they leave behind. These items give you more powerful shurikens, of which there are three variants of the original. Also, throughout the game are hidden lamps which refill your health bar completely as well as add an additional bar of health. Collecting these lamps helps out quite a bit, but they are also hidden quite well.

The graphics for Legend of Shadow never ceased to amaze me. From the title screen and its flawless vector graphics to the shurikens flying across the screen, I was always held in a state of disbelief as to how saturated the game was with delicious eye candy. There was, however, one thing I noticed: in certain levels, the backgrounds blended in almost exactly with the shurikens the enemy ninjas threw at you; something that was more of a nuisance than real flaw in the graphics, as I constantly had trouble discerning where the shurikens were coming from and how to dodge them. This aside, however, the graphics were, once again, perfect.

Sound effects were perfect. I never for once found anything wrong with them, and in fact, found them amazingly well suited for the game. None of the sounds were so loud that they diminished the volume of the music, and never too minute that they could not be heard. The clash of swords was fantastically real; the sounds the shurikens made when they struck the ground sounded like it was actually happening; and best of all, the main character actually grunted with pain when he was hit! I cannot for one instant pose any complaint about the sound effects at all—like the graphics, they were perfect.

All games that have perfect sound effects and graphics must certainly have near-perfect music as well—and Legend of Shadow is no exception to this rule. Well chosen music fits the samurai and gung-ho theme of this game very well by always setting the atmosphere perfectly. Like the graphics and sound effects, the music was, like everything else so far, perfect.

With tons of ninjas attacking you every second, there was never a dull or idle moment while I was playing this game. It takes quick reflexes, keen eyesight and agile fingers to get anywhere at all in this game. I was literally absorbed by this game, and often found myself cursing the ninjas as they carried out well executed acrobatic feats that often ended with me losing a bar or two off my health. The bosses were very stunning, as not only did they look splendid and have well programmed AI, but they also had exceptional defense, which made it impossible to damage them by employing any normal means, and I often had to devise a plan of attack, to take them down. Legend of Shadow also employs a point system that I forgot to mention before. It provides simple arcade fun, which only adds even more to the game, as you try and get through the game without getting a game over; something that sets your points back to zero.

There were several minor bugs I noticed while playing the game, first and foremost a bug that allowed me to replicate the selection arrow on the title screen, graphical glitches that displayed ‘squares’ where letters were supposed to be located, and among other things, I noticed some very minor collision glitches. However, such bugs are of very little importance, seeing as to how game-play is the biggest issue in a game, and Legend of Shadow had extremely smooth and near flawless game play.

For all the reasons mentioned above, this game easily ranks as one of the best GM games I have ever played; if not one of the best GM games of all time. It could very easily be compared to commercial games for its high quality and tremendous amount of polish. Whether you’re a fan of samurais, feudal Japan, swords and whatnot, it doesn’t matter; this is a must-download for any aspiring gamer.

Reviewer’s Notes: I have never used the word perfect so much in any of my reviews. And I don’t expect that I will any time in the near future. Legend of Shadow very well exceeds the quality of the large majority of GM games on the net, and I believe will continue to do so for quite some time. But of course, I suppose that all these comments encompass only one thing—after all, what more can I say? This game is as close to perfect as any game’s ever going to get.

+ Game Highs: Perfect in terms of graphics, music, sound effects and game play.
- Game Lows: Minor bugs, graphical glitches and one bad color choice. (I couldn’t just let this game go scot-free, now could I? Considering how good it was, I tried that much harder to find glitches, bugs and things that annoyed me ;)

OVERALL RATING: 10/10

The Author Wrote:
This is my remake of the Legend of Kage that I am making for the Retro Remakes 2004 competition.

It is a ninja game based in ancient times where you take on the role of Shadow who seaks to free his kidnapped princess.

This is a good game. I love the action. I don't think you have enough control over what happens, however. I found myself getting lucky, and that's why I won. But it seemed you couldn't really acquire the ability to DECIDE whether or not you were going to die, which is a point you should be able to get to in a game if you play it long enough. Otherwise a great game though. Nice music...

An awesome game, I really like the music on the first level, and the special attack is pwnage in graphics and sounds. the last flying boss is a little to hard and the hero needs a ranged attack, but other than that, it's perfect.

I read the review, and when i finally reached the bottom of it, it made me laugh! You might think: 'What´s so funny?'... Well I can explain it: When i saw the title 'Legend of kage', my eyes immediately registered 'kage'... Kage means 'cookie' in danish, and is also slang for 'poop'... hehe... There you got the reason!

while I usually don't like 'run through the level and kill bad guys' games, LoS is an exception. I like the upgradeble shuriken, but save them for the bosses, since I kill the ninjas with the sword. that's where another problem crops up. Great fun, but too easy. after a three minute play session i was at the second boss. bosses, fortunately, are brutal. I hit him with 24 of the highest level shuriken and he didn't die? the boss attacks are easy to dodge, but they are hard to defeat. Ah well. Nice game, darth. It's not going anywhere for a long time.

2006.08.31 cpc_kids
Rating: 8

it's a cool and fun game but it's a bit gory so my mom will not let me play it for more then 30 minutes.

Well as everyone knows darthlupi games are maybe the greatest id give it a 10 BUT theres an error with this cursor or somtin i played it b4 and couldnt figure out the controls so i came back to see em but this happened.

This has to be one of the best gamemaker games ive ever played. i cant beleive it was made with gamemaker. it makes all my games look like dead fish on the bottom of lake erie. but right now i havent acually releised any games. but legend of shadow is an awesome game.

Argh! I can't even beat the first level! My head gets cut off and my decapitated body spews blood all over the place and I just die a little on the inside. Nice graphics, though.

2005.12.12 GecSoft
Rating: 9

Wow 110% really cool game, a bit challenging but very well done, the graphics, sound and navigation of menu is excellent. Could do with a pause button though and the graphics glitches are a bit of a disappointment :( i got up to the second last boss and kills him and when the door opened the graphics went all slow :'(

Well what shall I say? Well first of all, good job darthlupin (woho way to go kash :D and of course the rest XD )!!!
Even if it is a little game, it makes make u just leave the rest of the things ur are doing for just playing the game, even if u die all the time! To bad u cant save in the game but otherwise WOHO :) !!
Many applouds from Sweden :)

I don't know what the big hype is about. The games not that great but it certainly is sort of fun. The graphics look good, the backrounds look wonderful, and the bosses were done nicely. However, there are to many enemies (not bosses) that chase you around in each level and I find myself just running away in each level and hitting the ninja stars back at them. I wish they were easier or maybe you had more life. Or maybe I just suck :P. I got to the thrid boss and couldn't beat it, but anyways its a good game and any real gamer should play it!

2005.07.15 duckman35
Rating: 9

Really good game. I've seen a lot of games like this one but this one is really good. Especially the graphics, how did you draw those sprites and backgrounds.

Hey, jim393, because you lack the intelligence to beat this game, you give it a one? That's like saying it's your teacher's fault that you score 0's on tests. Well, I can see you in that position, actually.

This game is just plain good. The game play isn't that deep but it's crazy and you've gotta be good. It took me quite a few tries to beat that last boss. Everything works together to create a fluid and fun game that I can't say anything bad about.

Oooo.... Ninja game....
I hate to say this, but the whole concept seems... cliched. Well, no matter. Still good!
Yes, fast-action... can't drop your guard for a second... such is the way of the Ninja... WHIYA!!!!!
Ahhahaha!!! You know, it'd be very interesting if you could make some kind of hidden technique that's super-hard to find, you enter a big button combo...
HIYA!! SAN KU-SEN!!! NI NO TAICHI!!! Ahhaha! You could practically become an ametuer Motoko!

Best action platformer made in GM ever I reckon. Damn fun. Proud as hell that darthlupi let me contribute to it. Been months since I first played the demo and I still play the full game nearly every day

Generally Darthlupi's games don't bring anything new to the table, but he does present it in a way that it seems like something it's something new, original, and just fun. This game is no exception.

When the game starts out you have a wonderful intro and menu. There you can configure the keys to your liking, and change other aspects such as color depth and resolution, though if you configure the keys you'll notice it's quite buggy. However the core of the game, the actual game!

You see a young woman get captured in the forest, and your goal as the ominous hero is to rescue her, which is not an easy task. You start out with minimal health, no saving, and challenging enemies. Speaking of enemies, their AI will make a mockery of you, unless you happen to know their attack patterns, which you will soon learn after a few views of the continue screen. After traveling through four different areas, and beating four unique bosses, you'll be treated to the credits and an ending cinematic. Unfortunally I could never beat the last boss because of a bug that caused the game to slow down considerably. To be more specific: 1FPS. So the last boss was unplayable for me.

The best part about this game though has to be the outstanding graphics and sounds. I really liked the variety of music that Darthlupi has chosen for this game. And his custom sprite work makes my eyes fill with glee. A few sounds were annoying, such as the charging of the energy ball during the third boss fight, but that can be excused because the rest of the selection fits perfectly.

In all this game has a lot of fun in store for anyone lucky enough to download it. While there is a flaw here and there, its still worthy of the download. You should have fun with it.